The Fed said it plans to provide up to $2.3tn in loans to support households and local governments. The central bank also published more details on its Main Street Lending Program, which will provide up to $600bn in loans to small and medium businesses.

The announcement helped US stock markets to open higher. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 1.4%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) climbed 1.5%, and the Nasdaq (^IXIC) was up 0.25%.

European stocks had been volatile in early trade but the strong US open helped spur them higher. The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) closed up 2.8%, France’s CAC 40 (^FCHI) rose by 0.6%, and Germany’s DAX (^GDAXI) was higher by 1.7%.

Oil was trading higher as the OPEC+ oil cartel began its first virtual meeting to discuss a potential cut to oil output.

The group, which includes Russia, began the summit shortly before 4pm UK time. Crude oil (CL=F) was trading up 2.4% to $25.70 per barrel and Brent (BZ=F) was 1.6% higher at $33.39 ahead of the meeting. Both oil prices had been much trading higher earlier in the session, amid exceptions of a cut to oil production.